I love mine as well. IF yours aren't working properly... you might ask your dealer if they can reset the calibration for the "rain sensor".

Recently on my e39 the intermittent wipers would only work at one interval - always at six seconds. (that car has a thumb wheel on the stalk and you can vary the interval). But the interval was always the same no matter where you turned the thumb wheel.

I asked my dealer about it, while doing some other work for me... they recalibrated the rain sensor and now it works GREAT! So I would try that.

Btw... have you ever had the windshield replaced on your 1er? They should have replaced the rain sensor when replacing the glass windshield. I know my insurance company tried to weasel out of that cost. They paid in the end.

I drive my car so little and hardly ever in the rain I still don't think I have worked out how the auto-sensing wipers work. Which position do I need to have the thumb wheel set to to make it the most sensitive? I thought it would be 'all the way up' but it's so damn slow still.

I have them in both my 1 and my Lexus and both are useless. I would be happier with just a regular adjustable rate like normal cars. They either wait until I can't see before clearing the windshield or they are taking swipes when the windshield is dry.
IMO these are the solution to a problem no one had.

I drive my car so little and hardly ever in the rain I still don't think I have worked out how the auto-sensing wipers work. Which position do I need to have the thumb wheel set to to make it the most sensitive? I thought it would be 'all the way up' but it's so damn slow still.

1er's only have a green LED button on the right stalk. Press the button and the wipers work on AUTO.

IF you turn the wiper stalk up one notch they work manually, but they will swipe faster IF the rain sensor detects heavy rain fall.

I've also found 'auto' wipers to be lacking on both of my cars (1er and RX350 Lexus), they're just not sensitive enough, and don't do a particularly good job of judging changes in rain intensity. They're OK when it's really pouring out, but for lighter rain they usually just end up frustrating me.

1er's only have a green LED button on the right stalk. Press the button and the wipers work on AUTO.

IF you turn the wiper stalk up one notch they work manually, but they will swipe faster IF the rain sensor detects heavy rain fall.

Not sure if you are implying you can't control the sensitivity of the auto sensing wipers. You can.

I have actually found that the auto wipers work quite well when compared to my other vehicles that had this option. If wiping too frequently, I turn the sensitivity down. If not frequent enough, I turn it up.

This said, the faster you are traveling, it seems the less control you have and the system does what it thinks best.

I prefer BMW's system to a variable delay circuit. I have one vehicle with each and regularly drive rentals with the delay circuit. To me the tradeoff is between occasionally hoping it would hurry up and swipe versus regular need to vary the delay. If I want it swiped and it hasn't, I move the stalk and it swipes. I drove 5 hours in rain of varying intensity last week in a Nissan Altima with a delay circuit. It wasn't terrible but I would have much rather been in my bimmer.

To argue you want to go back to the old delay circuit seems like you are attempting to fix a non-problem and will regret your "fix". If you want manual control you still have it. But the sensor and electronics eliminate the need for intervention most of the time.

I've also found 'auto' wipers to be lacking on both of my cars (1er and RX350 Lexus), they're just not sensitive enough, and don't do a particularly good job of judging changes in rain intensity. They're OK when it's really pouring out, but for lighter rain they usually just end up frustrating me.

I am well aware of this. But that wasn't my point. The AUTO simply does not work well. I would prefer the old mechanism with variable intervals.

Seems as though some of the posters are talking past each other. I know what you are saying and agree that the old fashioned fixed interval seems best. I've had rain sensing on two e46s, one e90, and one e82. Depending on conditions the auto mode either works ok or it doesn't. Yesterday in my e90 it was driving me crazy.

Dealer can adjust that issue if its a misalignment problem... I had my windshield replaced some time ago, and after doing so I noticed that the sensor was not working properly as it should, so I took the car back to the dealer and they did some kind of adjustment to the sensor or probably a sort of alignment that fixed the problem.

I'm with e34m5 on this one. Mine used to be fine but they suck now... I have it on the most sensitive setting and a lot of the time it waits until I almost can't see at all through the windscreen before deciding to wipe. I'm therefore forced to manually get it to wipe at times.

I have an '04 M3 and the intermittent wipers work GREAT!!! I find it hard to believe how BMW can screw up something that was working fine back in '04 to the terrible current system in the 1 series. I truly hate the current system because it just does not work. It either swipes constantly when there is no need to swipe or just refuses to swipe when the windshield is covered and I can't see out... FRUSTRATING!!!